Experience in the South Korean market forms the core basis for implementation. More than 650,000 T-DMB and S-DMB mobile phone users were able to receive Mobile TV by the end of May 2005. Growth in the number of users to over two million is expected by the end of 2006!
Samsung has leapt to the pinnacle of the South Korean market with its active and efficient new developments and successful marketing strategies. The commercial S-DMB service went into operation here in the third quarter of 2005. At the end of May 2006 S-DMB recorded 540,000 customers nearly all of whom used mobile phones.
Number of Users Forecasting
Normal operations for T-DMB started up in the Seoul area (three station locations) on 1st December 2005; T-DMB services here are non-encrypted and can be received by anyone:
According to the MIC (Ministry for Information and Communication) T-DMB recorded around 500,000 users by the end of May 2006. This comprised of:
• 38 % vehicle receivers
• 30 % USB receivers
• 20 % mobile phones
• 7 % PDA, PMP (portable multimedia players), set top boxes
• 5 % laptops
Korean DMB History
Since June 2006 further T-DMB licenses have been issued for national commercial operations (financed through advertising). The range of services comprises 7 TV, 13 audio and 8 data channels. By the end of 1010 the MIC is expecting around 5 million S-DMB and 10 million T-DMB users in South Korea alone.
The positive market development permits very good forecasts to be made for growth in expansion of Mobile TV-compatible mobile phones. The volume share of Mobile TV-compatible mobile phones in 2006 is 30% and is forecast to grow to 64% by 2010.
Satellite DMB Fee System
Admission fee: 20.000 won/unit
Basic Fee: 13.000 won/month (variations below)
Reasons for DMB subscription
The average daily 67 minute consumption of the mobile service is mainly concentrated around the journey to work, the way home and the lunch break.
Average watching time of S-DMB
Most popular channels
The areas of interest of the user groups are mainly distributed across 6 channels, whereby male users prefer to watch the sports channel, with female users preferring the movie channel.
